The Sword of Doom - Criterion Collection
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Features
• Black & White
• Closed-captioned
• DVD-Video
• Special Edition
• Subtitled
• Widescreen
• NTSC
In Theaters : 01 July, 1966
DVD Release : 15 March, 2005 |
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The Sword of Doom - Criterion Collection description
Boasting some of the most impressive swordplay in the history of samurai epics, Sword of Doom is a visceral masterpiece of violent style and powerful substance. Illustrating the timeless adage that "an evil soul wields an evil sword," this highly stylized classic is driven by the fierce and fearsome performance of Tatsuya Nakadai as Ryunosuke, a sociopathic samurai whose soul--and sword--are vicious instruments of evil. Having mastered a highly unconventional style of fencing, Ryunosuke welcomes an exhibition match at a fencing school run by master swordsman Shimada (Toshirô Mifune, in a small but pivotal role), where he kills his opponent after promising not to. Flagrantly violating all codes of honor, Ryunosuke eventually finds himself challenged from all sides; even his own henchmen rally against him, and director Kihachi Okamoto stages confrontations that are as beautiful as they are graphically violent. As Ryunosuke descends into pure, bloodthirsty insanity, Sword of Doom ends with a freeze-frame that's unforgettably intense. --Jeff Shannon |
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The Sword of Doom - Criterion Collection Customer Reviews
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♥♥♥♥♥
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Great Film
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I have read some of the reviews. The film is spectacular, it is amazing, and Nakadai is reason enough to watch it. He is a great actor and this is proof.
Good films grow with you as you watch them again. Repeated viewing is a necessary thing with most films in the Criterion Collection. A film is much more complex then an essay, and it takes a few readings to understand an essay. I want to address some of the complaints.
They gripe about the ending. The ending is perfect. There is nothing more to say. Whether he dies or not that is his doom. You cannot go more insane, he reached the end either way. Being the main character, the story ends because the main character is being consumed by his rage and madness. You want closure, you want standard plots? Go see 300 and all that Hollywood trash. Appreciate a film for it uniqueness, not all films need to fit a mold. Its called imagination, the land of many different possibilities. This is not a book, or novel. Its a film, completely different from novels. There is no editing in novels, it is unique to film. Kubrick said that editing is the reason he directs. See Welles or Gilliam for great examples of what editing does. Brazil is maybe the best example; the studio edit is extremely bad and some people complaining here seem like they would prefer the studio edit over Gilliam's.
Film is a great medium with many possibilities. This is one of the possibilities, and seems rather unique by the amount of complaints. The main character is not the young samurai, nor the orphaned woman. The main character is the insane sword man, and his sword. The last fight was triggered by him going insane and his ally being assassinated, which means he will be next to die. There is no mystery to me what triggered his attack. If you need to invoke god as a reason you are watching the wrong film. Buddhism is not about gods.
Watch it again, and again, and wash Hollywood's influence off of you. |
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The Sword of Doom - Criterion Collection dvd movie.